Friday, 8 July 2016

Lewis Hamilton top in British GP practice as Nico Rosberg goes out

Lewis Hamilton set the pace in second practice at the British Grand Prix as team-mate Nico Rosberg hit trouble.

Rosberg, the world championship leader, failed to do a single lap as his car suffered a water leak.
Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo was second, 0.391 seconds off Hamilton and 0.235secs ahead of team-mate Max Verstappen.
Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen were next, with McLaren's Fernando Alonso in a surprise sixth.

Tension at Mercedes

Rosberg's
problems come against a backdrop of internal tension at Mercedes
following the collision between the two drivers on the final lap of last
Sunday's Austrian Grand Prix.
Hamilton and Rosberg have been told
they are on their "final warning" and that "financial and sporting
penalties" could follow if they crash together again.
Rosberg has
an 11-point advantage over Hamilton after he dropped from first to
fourth following his ill-fated attempt to defend against the world
champion at Turn Two at the Red Bull Ring.
Hamilton went on to win the race and Rosberg was penalised by stewards after being found at fault for the incident.

Can Red Bull catch Mercedes?

Possibly. Mercedes appear to be in a league of their own over one lap, but in race trim it may be closer.
In the final part of second practice, the teams simulate the race, running heavy fuel loads.
As
Rosberg sat in the garage with the gearbox off his car, Hamilton's
initial pace on his first-stint race-simulation run on soft tyres was
initially very strong - a second or so faster than the Red Bulls.
But
as the runs progressed, the Red Bull hung on to its pace longer and by
the end of the runs their average pace was very similar.
Ferrari's runs were not comparable as they ran different tyres at different times.
But
BBC F1 analyst Allan McNish said Ferrari were struggling, adding: "It
is Red Bull who are going to take the fight to Mercedes on today's
performance."

Even McLaren might have a good British GP

Behind the top three teams, Alonso's pace gave McLaren encouragement.
The
Spaniard had said on Thursday he was expecting to be qualifying in the
top 10 and scoring points again after three difficult races and it seems
he may be on the money.
Honda engine has an upgrade on its intake
system for this weekend, which has meant the use of two of the
company's permitted development 'tokens'.
Team-mate Jenson Button
was struggling with a lack of grip and was 0.8secs slower in ninth place
despite setting his time much later in the session when the track would
have been faster.
Williams's Valtteri Bottas was seventh, ahead of an encouraging showing from the new Haas team for Romain Grosjean in eighth.
Renault's
Jolyon Palmer was 18th fastest, an encouraging two places and 0.349secs
quicker than team-mate Kevin Magnussen, who had to sit out the first
session as reserve driver Esteban Ocon was given a run in the car.
And
there was another notable performance from Manor's Pascal Wehrlein, who
was 17th, ahead of both Renaults, after scoring the first point of his
career and for the team this season in Austria last weekend.